Home
by Hikaru Morinaga
Summary: [Post Fuuin] You never realise how much you miss home until you're afraid you'll never come back. For Roy, it was because he was afraid he would come home and he wouldn't be there to welcome him, to ask him about his journey, or to say how proud he was.


**Home**

**Disclaimer: **Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi is not mine. It belongs to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. I'm making no money whatsoever off of this story.

- - -**  
**

He was glad to be home.

Traveling took its toll on him, and all he wanted to do was round the upcoming corner that led to Castle Pherae, perhaps see Lady Rebecca and Sir Lowen waiting at the gates to greet him, tell him how much they missed him, and maybe his father would be well enough to come outside and welcome him home, too.  
Roy shifted in the saddle of his horse, trying to make himself comfortable enough to get through the last few minutes of riding. Marcus was not that far ahead, far enough to lead but close enough to keep an eye on the young lord. Wolt was right next to him, the boy never left his side. Alan and Lance came up behind them, finishing up the small group of soldiers from Pherae. Merlinus was next to Marcus, of course, and the two were having a quiet conversation.

There was no one to greet them at the gates that divided the road to the Castle from the rest of the paths, but this didn't alarm him in the least--everyone was probably busy doing their chores or setting up a welcoming party or something. The red head shrugged, dismounted his horse, and brushed himself off. A stable hand took the group's horses and led them to the stables to be fed, groomed, and given a well deserved rest.  
"It's good to be home," Wolt said, stretching his taut muscles. "I've forgotten how peaceful it is here."

- - -

When they came through the doors of Castle Pherae, a feeling of familiarity and peace and warmth washed over the group. They were home at last, alive and in one piece, hungry and tired, and in desperate need of a nice, hot bath. The Castle hadn't changed much aside from the floors looking cleaner than when they left, and it felt bigger than it usually did. Alan and Lance had gone off to find the new recruits and warn them about how strict Marcus was; Marcus went off to find the new recruits and tell them all about the training they would face the next day. Roy and Wolt, however, headed for the stairs, Wolt to take a nice, relaxing bath and Roy to speak to someone. They separated at the stairs, promising to meet at dinner, and went onto their destinations.

Roy was happy he would be able to sleep in a bed instead of on the hard, cold ground. In fact, he was happy he would be able _to_ sleep because he wouldn't have battle plans and emergency ration lists and supplies and letters to home to pour over all night. He could bathe in a tub instead of in the river, which wasn't exactly the cleanest place to wash yourself, and he could resume life as it was before, as if the war never happened.

He came to the end of the hallway he was in, in front of him was a solid oak door that was opened slightly. Roy knew someone was in there--the sounds of pages turning, books closing, and someone clearing their throat could be heard if one stood still long enough. He rapped his knuckles against the door lightly, even though it was open, to signal that he was there and wanted to interrupt whatever was going on.  
"Yes?" someone answered from within, the pages falling silent. "Is that you, Roy?"  
Roy wasn't shocked or amazed that the person knew it was him. He did, after all, have a way of knocking on doors that was his and his alone.  
"Yes it is," Roy answered, and poked his head into the room. "Would you like some company?"

_Would you like some company?_ Roy thought. _I've been hanging around Marcus for too long. I'm starting to talk like him.  
_The figure inside gestured him to come inside, and Roy did so, closing the door behind him. He didn't want people eavesdropping.  
"Shouldn't you be in bed resting?" he asked. "They've told me that you're not well enough--"  
"Roy." The figure motioned to a chair across from him. "Sit." Roy crossed the room and sat down in the armchair, hands crossed in his lap.  
"Now...I'm perfectly capable of moving around, though the healers don't. My health isn't as bad as they're making it out to be."  
"But Father..."  
"They want you to worry about me, as if I'm going to die in the next five minutes or something." Here he laughed.  
"At least, I hope you're not going to die in the next five minutes."

Eliwood removed his reading glasses and placed them on top of the book he was perusing a minute before.  
"You sound so serious," he said. "I don't know if I like it. You sound like Marcus."  
"_Dad_."  
"_That's_ more like you."  
Roy shifted in the chair.  
"I basically wanted to tell you I was home and everything. I was kind of expecting you to greet us at the gates, but..."  
Eliwood smiled.  
"I _would_ have but the healers were ready to tie me down if I attempted it so...I really couldn't. And then I went to send for Lowen and Rebecca to greet you, but they didn't want that, either so..."  
"Those healers are trying to run your life, aren't they, Father?"

Eliwood shrugged.  
"Honestly? I have no idea."  
The older man moved closer to Roy and put his arm around him.  
"So. Your letters really didn't say much about your...experience, so I'm expecting to hear about everything. Especially what happened in Araphen. They told me it was horrible."  
Roy didn't want to discuss what happened in Araphen, because that would require telling him about Lord Hector.  
"I can tell you about that stuff later," Roy said, trying to change the subject. "What I really want to talk about it how happy I am to be home."  
Eliwood looked at him.  
"You honestly missed me?" Roy nodded.  
"Of course I did. I'm not used to traveling, and I was worried about you the whole time."

Roy hugged Eliwood tightly.  
"You have no idea how much I missed you, Father. No idea."  
Eliwood smiled.  
"Oh, yes I do. I had to do something very similar when I was about your age."  
Roy sighed.  
"I'm just...I'm so happy I'm home, away from all these soldiers and wars and stuff."  
Eliwood ruffled Roy's hair.  
"And you have no idea how happy I am that you're away from those soldiers, either."

- - -

**Author's Notes: **This took me a while to write, because I had no idea what I wanted initially. I must have gone through two or three drafts and two or three different perspectives before I settled on this one. I quite like it, though I wasn't really sure if I should've ended it like that or continued, but I think it's fine the way it ended.


End file.
